Complicated, english version
by Jadeile
Summary: SasuNaru. Sasuke didn't go with Orochimaru and started developing feelings towards Naruto. Now he just has to tell him about them. DISCONTINUED. (If you can read Finnish, I have a complete version of this in that language. )
1. Beginning

**Warnings:** Shounen-ai in general, SasuNaru in particular. Later parts have also hints of GaaLee. Lot's of huge Flashbacks.

**Disclaimer:** If I'd own Naruto, you wouldn't be reading any fanfictions about it. No one would write them.

Beta-readed by Cruixe. Thank you so much!

* * *

Black hair flowed in the light wind as an about 15 years old boy sat on the railing of a bridge. His dark eyes stared at the horizon where the sun was setting. The sunset coloured the sky different shades of red and also reflected its colours on the water in the river under the bridge. The river was

lapping calmly and mingling the colours and boy's own reflection to a blurred image. The boy also had the same kind of blur inside his head. Uchiha Sasuke closed his eyes from the sunset with a heavy sigh and collected his thoughts. This is what he did every evening. Ever since the one particular day. A light smile rose on Sasuke's face. One couldn't tell if the smile was happy,

sad or sarcastic. Sasuke himself wasn't too sure of it either.

The boy opened his eyes again. Now they were different. Sharingan, characteristic feature of the Uchiha-clan, was now dominating the eyes. That's because Sasuke had wanted it to. This was also something he did every evening. It reminded him of certain things. But Sasuke wasn't too sure if it

was good or bad things. He wanted to remember these things, but at the same time he would rather not remember them. But the boy knew that he must not forget them. Never. That day he was about to make the biggest mistake of his life. It had been so close. So close, that still Sasuke was shivering when he was thinking about it. What would have happened if he had finished the thing he started? One complicated thing would now have been out of his daily order. He preferred suffering it now

rather than to have lost it then. His life would be empty by now without a certain person who he had almost killed in his craving for power.

"Naruto…" Sasuke whispered to the wind. He said it so quietly, that even if there had been someone standing right next to him, that person wouldn't have heard it. And because his collar was in front of his mouth like usual, one could not read the word from his lips either. That one particular word, the name of a person, meant much to him. It was his most important word and he said it every evening. He said it with affection in his voice. Affection like no one would ever expect to hear from Uchiha Sasuke's mouth. And no one did. At least not yet. As long as Sasuke decides to hide his feelings no one would. And if Sasuke decided to never reveal his feelings, then no one would ever hear it. Sasuke would talk like that to only one person. Naruto. But not now, not yet. Right now he'd act like if nothing was out of order.

Sasuke had started to treat Naruto better after that day. Or actually not right after it. But anyway. At first he just didn't talk to Naruto at all, and that also meant he wasn't mean to him. But later when he was ready to talk he treated him just like he always had. That is, before he started to treat him more friendly for many reasons. Not too straight of course, because that could have caused suspicions. He didn't want anyone to try to figure things out, which would have been awkward. So he just kept lessening bullying and other things little by little and everything happened kind of discreetly and no one noticed anything. At least he thought so.

These were just the things Sasuke thought about every evening. He was always running over the events that occurred in the last three years and figuring out his feelings. He closed his eyes and soon opened them again, without sharingan. The boy was watching the setting sun. The sky was now red as blood. It brought a flashback-kind of thing to Sasuke's mind. About the beginning of everything…

ooooo

"Sasuke!" Naruto's voice called. A 12-year-old boy with black hair stopped after hearing the voice of the blond boy standing behind him. Or the boy wasn't actually standing behind him; in the middle of them was foamy waterfall. Sasuke was standing on the huge statue, which resembled the first Hokage of Konoha-village. Naruto in other hand was standing on the second Hokage's head.

"Sasuke!" Naruto shouted again. For a moment Sasuke just stood still before he started to walk away. He didn't care about the shouting of the other boy. Naruto took a step forward and shouted again.

"Sasuke! Are you going to run away from me?" That made the dark haired boy halt and turn his stare. Sasuke's left eye was different from the usual. The white of his eye was completely black and the iris was yellow. The left side of his face was also different from what Naruto was used to. On his face were black marks. Orochimaru's creation.

Sasuke was laughing with a laugh as cold as winter. Naruto had never heard him laugh like that. The blond boy's face was showing emotions of fear, disbelief, surprise and many others.

"It's you this time?" Sasuke asked coldly, referring to how Sakura had begged him to stay on that night when he had decided to join Orochimaru. And to gain power. Power you could never get if you stayed in Konoha playing a good little ninja with Naruto and the others.

"What's with that face?" Sasuke continued and laughed again. Naruto's face contorted with pain, which he felt in his heart for Sasuke.

"Why?" Naruto asked, "Sasuke! Why did you become like this?" he shouted the rest right to Sasuke's face. It did hurt the dark boy. A little. But he didn't show it.

"What does it matter to you, whatever I become?" he asked with colourless voice.

"I have chosen my path. No matter who it is, nobody has the right to tell me what to do." At this moment Naruto's expression changed to something similar to hate. Sasuke continued without any mercy.

"I make this clear for you. My childish games with you and Konoha are over now." Silence.

"Go home."

Sasuke still was able to catch a glimpse of Naruto's expression. It was full of different kind of feelings; from sadness to disappointment and from that to hate. Sasuke turned his back to him and started to walk away. Actually turning around and taking back everything crossed his mind, but that thought drowned soon enough. And that was all he had time to think before something cast a shadow over him.

"Just what do you think your comrades in Konoha are?" Naruto shrieked and tipped Sasuke over roughly with his bodyweight and bouncing power. The next thing Sasuke realized was that Naruto punched him right into face.

The events after that were blurred in Sasuke's memory; he could hardly recall what happened. He had started to fight with Naruto. Once in a while Naruto shout at him things about companionship, being friends and even something about being like brothers.

Sasuke himself had shouted about power that could not be obtained without Orochimaru. And about revenge to his brother, Itachi. Also, because of his revenge, he had to kill Naruto. Itachi had told him so and he had read it from the forbidden scroll of the Uchiha family by himself. The scroll had

read that the owner of sharingan, who killed his best friend, would obtain Mangekyo sharingan, the more powerful sharingan. With that one would be able to do lot of things that a normal Uchiha couldn't. Itachi was able to do lot of things that Sasuke couldn't. Unless… he killed his closest friend, Naruto.

The fight had finally leaded to that point where Sasuke had to use the second stage of the power he obtained from Orochimaru; turning into a full beast. And Naruto had started to use that red and hostile chakra of his, which he seemed to use in emergencies. Sasuke still didn't know what that

chakra was. Naruto never told him. It did make Naruto transform to look more like a beast, with his eyes turned streaks. The battle became even more serious than it already was. Well, if you could turn the battle of life and death more serious.

They were very equal until they decided to make the fight end at once. Sasuke used his Chidori and Naruto used his Rasengan. They crashed. Sasuke was actually winning. But then his eyes just opened. He saw what he was doing and he realized that it wasn't worth it. He gave up. They both flew by the power of the energy wave and collided with ground. Naruto would have probably died if Sasuke had not interrupted his own attack, or in fact stopped giving power to it. But Sasuke had stopped just in time. He had spared his friends life at the last minute.

Sasuke was about to pass out, but he stayed awake for Naruto. He wanted to hear that he was alright before he'd allow himself to pass out. At that moment it started to rain. It made things more complicated. Raindrops on dark boy's cheeks brought a relaxed feeling along and it was too hard to

resist. He lost his consciousness, but just before that was able to see how a dark figure limped towards him.

"I'm sorry... Naruto..." he whispered before everything went dark.

The next time he woke up he was in Konoha's hospital. Naruto had brought him back. His every muscle ached and the most painful was his head. Or no, his shoulder was the one that hurt most, particularly the spot where was Orochimaru's mark. Sasuke lifted his hand on the mark and his face contorted with pain. Both physical and emotional. But there was one thing he had decided: he wouldn't go to Orochimaru. He would stay in Konoha, with Naruto. A small smile reached his lips before he lost his consciousness again.

ooooo

Sasuke returned to reality, back to the bridge he was sitting on watching the sunset. Naruto had saved him from the darkness that day, three years ago. That day Sasuke's new life had begun. A smile crossed his lips. Naruto… But the sun disappeared from the horizon, which meant that Sasuke

should go to his home and catch some sleep. He would continue his pondering tomorrow. He should go the whole thing through again. Well, before he would be able to ponder his current situation again.

The boy hopped off the bridge railing to his feet and walked through Konoha's roads towards his home. He purposely took the longer route so he could walk past Naruto's house. He took a look at the window of the house. There was no light so Naruto was asleep. After a quick glance around, Sasuke jumped soundlessly behind Naruto's bedroom window. He peeked in, which was rather easy, because Naruto never remembered to close the curtains. Inside the blond boy was laying in his bed with that silly nightcap on his head. Naruto was adorable when he was asleep. Sasuke smiled to him, even though he couldn't be able to see it.

"Good night, Naruto", he whispered and jumped back to the darkness of the night.

* * *

**A/N:** This is the beginning of Complicated, my very own and first SasuNaru-fic. Well, in the beginning it is mostly about what has happened before, which means quite a lot of annoying flashbacks. But after we get over Sasuke's ponderings we'll start to see some action. And yes, some of this ( actually most of this) is copied straight from anime, but I'm sure you understand why it was necessary. And yes, this isn't too good right now, but this sounded like a good idea about half an year ago. But it'll get better on the next chapter and chapters after that.


	2. The silent treatment of the past

**Complicated **

The sunlight was shining brightly into the window of one house. It was shining straight onto the bed near the window and in the eyes of Uchiha Sasuke, who was lying on that bed. The boy turned around irritated, but then he noticed that something was off. 'Normally the sun doesn't shine on my eyes in the morning', he thought. The window just wasn't positioned so that the sunlight could possibly reflect on his face. Faster than lightning Sasuke was out of his bed and in a fighting stance. He waited a little while in case someone would burst into his room. When nothing happened Sasuke decided to figure out why the sun was shining straight into his bed.

The black haired boy jumped in front of his window with a kunai in his hand, but then bended in the same second when he reached his destination. But no one tried to throw a shuriken or kunai or anything else through his head. And neither did anyone try to punch or kick through the window in purpose of hitting Sasuke. Sasuke stood up and prepared for getting attacked, but still no one did that. He sighed in an almost disappointed way and opened the window and stuck his head out. He looked from left to right until his dark eyes noticed a shiny thing. Kunai. It was thrown or placed precisely in a way it would reflect the sunlight on Sasuke's room in general and his face in particular. Sasuke snorted. Kind of clever. But what was the purpose of it? Then he noticed a small piece of paper that was bind on the weapon. At first he startled a bit when he thought it was an exploding note, but he soon figured out it wasn't. Sasuke stretched his hand and took the note and the kunai.

Absent minded he closed the window and went back to his room. He released the note from the weapon and read it.

"Hey Sasuke! What's taking so long? Just look at the time! Even Kakashi-sensei is already here! Wake up and get your lazybones over here! Naruto." Sasuke startled. Say what? He read the note again and looked at the alarm clock on his nightstand. It said 12.30. How come he had slept so long? How come he hadn't woken up?

The dark haired boy threw both kunai and Naruto's note on his bed. He jumped to his wardrobe and took a pair of black shorts and a black shirt out of it and quickly put them on. He was already running out of his bedroom when he suddenly stopped and took couple of steps back. He grabbed Naruto's note from his bed and read it couple of times. For a moment he wondered how he was even able to read those scrawls. For another moment he smiled at the thought that Naruto had written the note and gone through all the troubles of getting the kunai on his window frame just for Sasuke. Naruto had been near his house while he was still sleeping. The thought was both nice and disturbing at the same time. Sasuke felt his cheeks warm up a little.

He shook his head and walked to his nightstand. He took a key from beneath his alarm clock and opened the locked drawer. He took camera from there and put it on the table. Then he dug the thing he was searching for from the very rear of the box: his scrapbook. He opened it from the random place. In that particular double-page spread was a picture of Naruto eating ramen and next to it were used eating sticks. On the other page was a drawing of Naruto. Sasuke browsed the book forward until he found an empty page, which also started new double-page spread. The boy smiled and took tape from drawer. He tore a piece of it and taped up Naruto's message to his scrapbook. Then he took another piece and used it to secure the note better. He nodded contently and looked at his book another time before closing it and putting it back to the drawer with all the other stuff. Lastly he locked the drawer and put the key back under the alarm clock. Now he was ready to go.

Or after he had fixed his hair of course.

ooooo

"Sasuke-kun!" Sakura squealed as Sasuke jogged to the bridge, where Team 7 usually met.

"Sasukeee!" Naruto yelled with funny voice. The voice was funny because it was annoyed and happy in the same time. Sasuke liked Naruto's voice, no matter what kind of tone it had. Kakashi looked up from his Icha Icha Paradise-book and smiled at Sasuke. If one didn't know Kakashi, then one probably wouldn't be able to tell that he smiled, since it was not very easy to see expressions behind the mask.

"You finally came", Kakashi-sensei said and put his book into his pocket.

"Well, today we have got an easy mission", Kakashi started, "We just have to escort one young couple to another village and that's it."

Sasuke and Naruto glanced at each other. They had had bad experiences from this kind of mission. Usually they did sound easy, but then behind the curtains were all kinds of troubles that should have made the mission to A-rank. Naruto turned his look to the sky and sighed. Sasuke looked at Naruto for a while instead, but then stopped ogling when he remembered that there were others around too.

With no more talk they walked up to Hokage and got their clients. For the beginning of the trip Sasuke was ready for enemies and anything else too all the time, but after a while he just dismissed the whole thing and began to daydream. He recalled where he had left his thoughts yesterday. Hmm… It was when Naruto had brought him to hospital.

ooooo

Young Sasuke woke up again after many hours. The first thing he saw was Tsunade-sama's face above him.

"Finally you're awake! I was almost worried", Hokage said with a smile on her face. Sasuke didn't reply.

"Your wounds were kinda bad and you have been unconscious for two whole days and little over actually", the blond woman continued her rant. Two days… That long? What about Naruto? Sasuke didn't bother to ask about it. He didn't want to show anyone that he was interested in Naruto's wellbeing. Neither was he so sure about what he thought about Naruto right now either. Everything was confusing.

"But you're at least in better shape than Naruto. You're awake for example, Naruto's still unconscious though his wounds are almost healed already", Tsunade told. Sasuke gasped. Naruto was still unconscious? Tsunade-sama turned her face towards Sasuke with confused look on it. Sasuke turned his own face away.

"By the way, there are couple of people who have been visiting you many times already. Should I ask them to come here now that you're conscious?" Tsunade asked in a friendly manner. Sasuke was pretty sure he knew who those people were. On the other hand it didn't matter who they were, because he didn't want to see anyone at all. He shook his head. Hokage shrugged.

"Alright. I'll still ask nurses to bring you something to eat, you must be starving", Tsunade walked to the door and glanced at the black haired boy in the bed once more. Sasuke was staring at the ceiling and didn't even listen. Hokage shook her head worriedly and got out of the room.

ooooo

The next couple of days Sasuke only lied on his bed and said nothing to anybody. Ino and Sakura came to visit him on the fifth day.

"Sasuke-kun..." Sakura's voice came from the door. Sasuke didn't even turn to look.

"Hi, Sasuke-kun", Ino's a bit more lively voice said. Sasuke still didn't react in any way.

"We brought you flowers", Sakura said and tried to make an eye contact with Sasuke. Sasuke ignored it but took a look at the daffodils in Sakura's hand and buttercups in Ino's hand. He still stayed quiet and turned to stare at the ceiling.

"Sasuke-kun... I heard you haven't said anything in all this time..." Sakura said with a bit questioning voice. No reaction.

Girls sat on the side of Sasuke's bed and tried to make him talk. No results. They also told him all the news and happenings of the village. Not any reaction. But finally:

"Naruto got out of the hospital today", Sakura mentioned. Sasuke's expression changed a smallest bit. He almost turned to look at the girls and almost considered asking more about the subject. Almost. Ino noticed the little change.

"Naruto regained consciousness yesterday and Hokage-sama let him out today. Naruto seems to be okay, almost as if nothing happened at all", Ino chatted and stared at Sasuke. Sakura too looked at the black haired boy after understanding Ino's implied hint. Sasuke really reacted at Naruto's name. His eyebrows moved and he made a thoughtful face.

Naruto… He was the only thing that interested Sasuke. He had no interest whatsoever in the happenings in the village or what they thought or talked about him or what would happen to him or what others were doing. Only Naruto's things interested him. Naruto, who had saved him from the darkness. Prevented him from giving himself to Orochimaru. Showed him the power of friendship. Naruto... Sasuke had hardly thought about anything else while he was awake. He had only wondered if Naruto was okay. And what did he think about Sasuke? Did Naruto hate him? Or was everything like it was before? Or had something changed? And if it had, then how?

"Sasuke-kun?" Sakura's voice made Sasuke come back to present and blink several times.

"Are you worried about Naruto?" Sakura asked. Sasuke didn't answer. He still didn't want to talk to anyone, especially about Naruto. He wanted Ino and Sakura to go away now. He wanted to be alone. But he had to wait a long time before that kind of luxury. Finally Sakura and Ino had to leave, they couldn't spend the whole day with Sasuke, even if they wanted to. They promised to come back tomorrow, which was something Sasuke really didn't wish for.

ooooo

After three days Sasuke was let out of the hospital. Luckily it was without Sakura or Ino knowing, so they weren't waiting for him outside. Sasuke still hadn't spoken a word to anyone. He walked on the streets of Konoha towards his home, but suddenly came to a halt. He wasn't sure if he wanted to take the longer path and walk past Naruto's house or not. He wanted to see Naruto, but on the other hand he didn't want to face him yet. After a minute of hesitation he chose the longer path.

Passer-by's stared at him oddly the whole way. After he had passed them they immediately started to whisper to each other. It was like buzzing in Sasuke's ears. What they were talking about? Or precisely what kind of rumours had already started to spread through the city? Sasuke stuffed his hands deeper in his pockets and turned his eyes towards the ground. Finally the crowd started to dwindle the closer he got to Naruto's apartment. There was hardly anyone around ever. Good.

Sasuke could see the whole street from where he stood. At least by the time Naruto was nowhere in sight. The dark haired boy walked straight to Naruto's door. He couldn't bring himself to knock and he didn't actually want to either. So he just stood there. Then he got better idea and he jumped next to Naruto's window. He peeked inside. Naruto was there. He sat on the side of his bed, his back towards the window. His position was hunched up and somehow… miserable. Was it because of Sasuke?

Suddenly Sasuke heard steps inside Naruto's house. He hid better so he wouldn't be seen from inside. The steps stopped and it sounded as if someone had sat on Naruto's bed. There was someone else too? Sasuke peeked inside and saw Iruka-sensei sitting next to Naruto. Sasuke pressed his ear to the joint of window and wall so he could hear their conversation better.

"Sasuke got out of the hospital today", Iruka-sensei told Naruto, who immediately lifted his head.

"He did? Did he leave already? Where is he?" the blond haired boy started asking. Iruka smiled.

"He left a while ago, little before I arrived here. I don't know where he is, probably in his home." Sasuke snorted quietly. He was closer than Naruto could imagine.

"Iruka-sensei…" Naruto said quietly. Both Iruka and Sasuke listened closely.

"I heard that Sasuke hadn't spoken a word since his arrival... Is it true?" Naruto's voice sounded a bit sad. Silence. Iruka nodded.

"No one knows what he is thinking. He had been like a rock all the time: he hadn't shown any clue about his thoughts. He didn't talk, didn't made expressions and hardly even moved in his time in the hospital…"

"You're not scheming, are you?" unexpected voice said behind Sasuke. Quietly gasping Sasuke jumped a little and then turned around. Kakashi-sensei. He was standing right in front of Sasuke with expression that revealed nothing.

"Come with me, we don't want Naruto or Iruka seeing us, now do we?" Kakashi said and flashed something like a smile. Or as much as you can flash anything behind the mask. Sasuke took one last glance towards the window. Naruto and Iruka were still chatting and probably hadn't noticed anything. Sasuke turned back to Kakashi and nodded. They started to walk away.

They walked in total silence on the side streets towards Sasuke's home. Finally Kakashi opened his mouth.

"Well, Sasuke, what exactly were you doing behind Naruto's window? Spying?" Sasuke didn't answer anything and didn't even look at his sensei. Silence.

"I see. Sigh. You weren't up to no good, no?" Sasuke still didn't answer, but he looked at the one side. Then to another. Then he shook his head slowly. Kakashi smiled a little to himself.

"That's good. And how long are you about to give us the silent treatment?" sensei continued and stuffed his hand to his silver hair making it more messy than it already was. Sasuke turned his stare and finally looked the other one in the eye. He didn't say anything, but gave a clear message saying, that he would speak when he feels like it. Kakashi had an understanding look in his face and that pissed Sasuke off to no end. Kakashi-sensei just couldn't understand!

Luckily they were soon at Sasuke's house.

"Well, take care, Sasuke. Tomorrow we'll have training, come if you feel like it", Kakashi-sensei said smiling and then took off. Sasuke was sure that he saw him digging his Icha Icha Paradise from his pocket while he jumped away.

Sasuke turned his face towards his door. Home. He never thought he'd ever return to this place. He had expected himself to be staying with Orochimaru for a while and then going after his brother. And then... he actually hadn't planned what to do after it. The black haired boy laid his hand on the doorknob and pressed it down. The door opened. He hadn't locked it when he left, because what had it really mattered to him back then? He stepped inside his house and noticed that nobody had been in there since he left. Or if someone had been there, at least they hadn't touched anything.

ooooo

The next week Sasuke hold the silent treatment alone in his home. He only went outside when he had to do the grocery shopping… or spy on Naruto at evenings. Kakashi-sensei knew that he spied on Naruto. Sasuke had seen him in the corner of his eye time by time. It seemed that Kakashi kept an eye on Sasuke all the time. On the other hand Sasuke had been expecting some sort of watching after him. And he couldn't care less.

After his own spying he had figured out at least some things. Naruto didn't hate him, but things weren't like they had been. Well no shit? It would have been impossible anyway, because they hadn't seen each other yet after the incident. Or at least Naruto hadn't seen Sasuke. It seemed like Iruka or Kakashi had told Naruto to not disturb Sasuke. Perhaps it was fine like that.

Sasuke had also figured out that he didn't hate Naruto. He rather wanted to strengthen their friendship. He didn't want to lose Naruto. He wanted to be closer with him. He wanted to show him that he was important to him. He would say his first words to Naruto and nobody else.

Sasuke smiled at the ceiling. It was already night and he was in his bed thinking about these things. Tomorrow he'd go training with his team. And perhaps he'd talk to Naruto.

ooooo

"Saasuukee! Earth to Uchiha, is he listening?" Naruto's voice rang straight to his ear and boy's hand was waving in front of his face. Sasuke came back to present and took a look at his surroundings. They were already in their destination and the mission was accomplished. The young couple was safely escorted to the village and the mission had been as easy as it should have been. Nobody had attacked them while Sasuke was daydreaming.

"What is he thinking?" Naruto asked and shoved his face near Sasuke's face and grinned. Sasuke gulped. Naruto's face was so close. His lips were right in front of him and screamed him to kiss them. Sasuke shoved those thoughts away; it wasn't time for it yet.

"Just something, nothing important", Sasuke said and smiled a little. Naruto smiled shrugging and went to irritate Kakashi-sensei. Sasuke glanced after Naruto and smiled. He shook his head. Oh Naruto. How little you do know.


	3. Talking and ramen

**Complicated **

"Well, that was our only mission for today. See you again tomorrow morning at ten o'clock", Kakashi said to his three students, dug the Icha Icha Paradise from his pocket and started to stroll off.

"Right, like he'd show up in time anyway…" Naruto muttered and glared at his teacher, who was innocently walking away.

"…which reminds me, Sasuke, tell me why you were still sleeping soundly when you were supposed to show up at the bridge?" Naruto asked and grinned to Sasuke, who was walking next to him. Sasuke felt his cheeks burn a tiny little bit, for which he lifted his shoulders a bit so his collar would cover more of his face.

"… I had hard time falling asleep last night, so I guess I was sleeping more heavily this morning", Sasuke muttered. It was actually true; he just left unsaid the reason that caused his problem in the first place. The reason was walking right next to him… on the left side, because on his right side was Sakura, to whom Sasuke had paid no attention until he realized she was still there.

"Sasuke-kun, would you mind having lunch with me now that the mission is over?" Sakura asked with flirting voice, which she always seemed to use when talking to Sasuke. The black haired boy glared at Sakura.

"No", he answered, shortly and rudely. Sakura stopped and looked at Sasuke with disappointed eyes.

"… alright then..." she sniffed, trying to gain sympathy, which she didn't get. Sasuke and Naruto continued their walk, leaving Sakura behind. Sasuke grinned a little to Naruto.

"Hey, Naruto, what about if we go to Ichiraku Ramen? I appreciate your company a lot more than Sakura's", Sasuke asked. Luckily Naruto had already gotten used to Sasuke sometimes being this friendly to him. Sasuke felt butterflies fluttering in his stomach. That always happened when he succeeded in asking Naruto on a date, or something like it. Of course Naruto didn't know Sasuke's real intentions behind this, but that was beside the point. A large smile appeared to Naruto's face.

"Ramen! Ramen! Let's go!" he squealed and skipped happily towards the restaurant in question. Sasuke felt warm inside. Naruto had accepted once again. He smiled fondly to himself and then hurried after Naruto.

Once Sasuke reached Ichiraku Ramen, he even decided to treat Naruto to two bowls. And that was something that made the blond boy beam. He was an easy one to please. Naruto was inhaling his food eagerly while Sasuke concentrated on throwing furtive looks at him. The blackhaired boy stirred his ramen with his chopsticks and pondered if now was the time to make an actual move.

"Naruto..." he said quietly and the boy sitting next to him turned his face towards him.

"Hmmhnn?" he mumbled questionably with his mouth full of ramen. Sasuke was about to open his mouth to answer when Naruto's eyes seemed to focus on something behind him. The blond boy swallowed and grinned joyfully.

"Heeyyyyy! Fuzzybrows!" he shouted, jumped off the chair and ran to the street. Sasuke turned around in his chair and followed the situation.

Lee, Shikamaru, Chouji and Neji stopped as Naruto ran in front of them with a huge grin plastered on his face.

"I was kinda looking for you, Lee!" he chuckled and lifted his hands behind his neck.

"Me? Why so?" Lee asked bemused.

"I heard from Tsunade-baachan that Kazekage and his siblings are coming here tomorrow", Naruto said with sly voice. Lee blushed a bit and his lips quirked to joyful grin.

"Gaara?" he asked. Naruto chuckled and nodded. Lee's hands shook and his smile got wider and wider. Finally he couldn't stand it anymore and he started to jump around out of joy and sing Gaara's name.

"My darling Gaara is about to viiisiiiit!" the green clothed boy sang and did couple of pirouettes around Neji. The boys laughed knowingly.

"Lee and Gaara sitting by a tree…!" Naruto called and caused a lot of hilarity in Chouji and Neji. Shikamaru on the other hand looked a bit troubled, which caught Naruto's attention.

"That's right Shika, Gaara and his siblings... So Temari is coming too", the blond haired boy said and winked. The smallest blush crept on Shikamaru's cheeks and he smiled contently.

"By the way", Naruto started and glanced at Chouji and Neji.

"You two are still single and so on… Don't you even have anyone you're interested in? Neji, when are you gonna make the first move on Tenten?" Naruto asked, smirking even wider than before, if that was even possible. Neji glared at him.

"Like I have told you million times before, Tenten and I are just good friends and I have no other feelings towards her. Besides, she's interested in someone else", Neji answered as calm as always. Naruto's eyes grew huge.

"Who? Do you know?" he asked.

And at that moment Iruka decided to walk by.

"What kind of girl-gossip-club are we having here?" he asked with smirk. Everyone went silent and got embarrassed.

Sasuke snorted and turned his stare back to his already cold ramen. Lee was really out of closet gay, and Naruto still considered him his friend. Well, it's not like Sasuke hadn't known that already. But how would he take it if Sasuke declared his sexuality? Meaning that... Naruto was the object of his affection, and that probably would influence his attitude towards it a lot. Would there be any chances that the blond boy would feel the same? At least his behavior didn't give anything hinting for that away. Except the fact, that he didn't woo Sakura anymore as much as he had before. Now that Sasuke thought about it, he noticed that Naruto hardly did that anymore at all.

Naruto jumped back to his seat next to Sasuke.

"…Girl-gossip-club… Damn Iruka-sensei!" Naruto huffed and glared at his ramen bowl.

"And this is cold too! Hey, I wanna new one!" the blond boy made a ruckus. The owner of the place chuckled and gave a new bowl to already impatient Naruto. He also gave a new bowl to Sasuke, who had hardly touched his old one. Or at least he hadn't eaten from it, but he had mixed it quite well with his chopsticks. Sasuke was just about to lift the noodles to his mouth when he felt Naruto stare at him. He turned towards him.

"Were you saying something when Fuzzy brows and others came?" Naruto asked.

"…Nothing important" Sasuke answered with tiny smile and turned back to his food. Naruto shrugged and turned his undivided attention back to eating. Sasuke on the other hand started to think while he ate.

ooooo

Sasuke woke up at eight A.M , like usual. He didn't need an alarm clock, because his inner clock always woke him up in time. Actually he didn't even need to wake up this early, because their meeting wasn't before ten o'clock and Kakashi wasn't really about to show up until eleven. Still Sasuke always woke up at this time. It was a habit.

The boy rose up from his bed. He hummed by himself. Today he would talk to Naruto. And he would try to be friendly. But that depended a lot on the way Naruto would respond to him, and also on what Sakura and Kakashi would do, though the latter one wouldn't be an issue at first, because he wouldn't appear before he was at least an hour late anyway.

Sasuke put his clothes on and went to the kitchen. He stared in his fridge, which was emptier than Naruto's head. Or, there was a little chunk of cheese and some butter, but that was all. The boy took the available groceries to the table and then went to check the bread shelf. There was half packet of bread, which was enough for now. After that Sasuke fetched a teabag and some dishes. He boiled some water, poured it into his mug and put his teabag to steep.

"Naruto", he whispered and thought about the boy, who probably was still fast asleep. Or if he wasn't, then he'd be inhaling his cup ramen half asleep.

"Sakura", the boy continued and imagined the pink haired girl, who was fussing in front of a mirror, making sure her hair looked good. The thought wasn't half as interesting as the first one, though.

"Kakashi", Sasuke's mind painted an image of silver haired man, who was grinning behind his mask and reading his beloved Icha Icha Paradise. Today he'd meet all three. The thought sent butterflies to have a disco party in his stomach. For a long time he had been not talking to anyone, or meeting anyone either. But you needed to take one step for the new beginning before you could take another one.

ooooo

It was quarter to ten when Sasuke arrived at the bridge, where Team 7 always met. Nobody was there yet, which didn't surprise the boy at the least. He was always there ahead of schedule, Sakura would arrive just in time and Naruto a bit late. Kakashi would be a lot late.

Sasuke started to ponder if he should instead go away for a while and come back after Naruto. If he did that, then he wouldn't have to deal with being alone with Sakura before meeting Naruto. That would be awkward. The idea was actually good, so Sasuke turned around and took his way back. When he had good enough distance to the bridge, he jumped on the nearest tree and sat down. From there he was able to see the bridge, but the people on the bridge wouldn't see him.

At ten o'clock sharp Sakura arrived to stand on the bridge. Five minutes after that Naruto came and eagerly greeted the pink haired girl, who didn't answer to it. Sasuke jumped down from the tree and started to walk towards them. He didn't know if he hoped that they would see him before he was there or not. But that wasn't on his hands to decide.

"Sasuke-kun!" Sakura squealed with happy and a bit surprised voice when he saw the black haired boy walk near the bridge. Naruto turned around to stare at the boy with disbelief written on his face.

"Sasuke", he whispered with almost inaudible voice, but Sasuke was able to read the word from his lips. He walked to the bridge and stopped in front of Naruto.

All the three were silent.

"…hey, Sasuke", Naruto said and smiled cautiously. Sasuke's heart skipped a beat. He had longed to hear those words for a while. He also smiled a little.

"Hey, Naruto." Both Naruto's and Sakura's eyes widened from surprise. Sasuke had talked! Those two words were the first ones he had said after his arrival to Konoha! Or at least the first ones he had said to someone else than himself, because no one knew if he had talked to himself or not in his home. Sakura now watched Sasuke hopefully.

"Hey, Sasuke-kun", she said with the sweetest possible smile on her face. Sasuke totally ignored her and didn't answer.

"Sasuke... How are you?" Naruto asked, breaking the ice. Sasuke turned his attention on Naruto.

"…I'm fine", he answered with a quiet voice. Both were cautious with their talking.

"What about you?" Sasuke added after short silence. Now Naruto and Sakura were totally dumbfounded! Sasuke was being friendly with Naruto? Sakura felt a bit jealous towards the blond boy. Why did Sasuke speak to Naruto? Why didn't he speak to Sakura at all?

"I'm good. It's nice that you decided to show up for the training again, Sasuke", Naruto said and put a huge grin on his face. The atmosphere lifted up immediately when Naruto started to behave normally again. Sasuke turned his face so that Sakura wouldn't see it and smiled to Naruto. The blond boy lifted his hands behind his neck and chuckled happily. At that moment Kakashi showed up. Sakura looked at her clock.

"It's only quarter past ten!" she said astonished. Naruto and Sasuke looked at Sakura and then turned their stare at Kakashi.

"Who are you and what did you do to Kakashi-sensei?" Naruto shouted and pointed a reproachful finger towards the silver haired man. Kakashi looked very puzzled for a moment before chuckling happily.

"Well, looks like Sasuke decided to show up today, good", he said, brushing off Naruto's accusations. Sasuke nodded to his sensei and then they went to their training.

ooooo

A year later things were fully settled. Sasuke talked to people like he used to and everything was like before. Or almost. Sasuke and Naruto's friendship bloomed. It practically meant that sometimes they spent their free time together even without the excuse of training together or something. They also insulted each other less than before the Orochimaru-incident. They didn't always compete about everything either. Only mostly.

Things were very peaceful if you didn't count the things that were about the whole team or village, which included occasional appearances of Itachi and Orochimaru. But never again did the situations run out of hand because of Sasuke. He didn't have any interest in joining Orochimaru anymore. Yes, he did still want to kill Itachi, but he did have reasonable limits in it. He would never ever again do something stupid to gain power just so he could kill his brother. He would train with Naruto until he would be powerful enough. And maybe then he would take Naruto as his backer in his hunt for Itachi. Maybe.

But one day happened something that caused a great upheaval in Sasuke's life again.

Sasuke was sitting in his home at the dinner table, browsing his scrapbook which he had for some reason kept for a week. He had gotten a camera from Naruto as his birthday present and then had started to use it to take photos of all kind of interesting things. This meant that the scrapbook was mostly full of pictures of Naruto, which Sasuke found kind of strange, but didn't really care. Sasuke browsed the book, smiling to himself.

"Hmm… I should arrange a darkroom so that I could learn to develop the photos myself", Sasuke thought aloud and then he suddenly heard knocking at his door. He hastily closed the book and looked around. Where should he hide it? He didn't really want anybody to see it. His eyes wandered to the fridge. No, really, not there at least. Finally he opened the door of the bread shelf and put both camera and the scrapbook inside.

Sasuke walked to the door and opened it. Naruto was standing in front of him. Sasuke was about to happily greet him, but Naruto's expression made him think against it.

"Hello, Sasuke", Naruto said with voice, that wasn't the usual happy-go-lucky Naruto-voice. It was kind of… miserable.

"H-hi, Naruto", Sasuke answered, confused. He let Naruto in and closed the door. They went to living room and sat down and for a moment they were just quiet.

"What's wrong, Naruto?" Sasuke finally asked. The blond boy looked at him.

"We are...with Ero-sennin... gonna go on a... bit longer trip. I don't know how long we're gonna be gone", Naruto told him. That unbalanced Sasuke's mind quite a bit. His world turned totally upside down. Naruto was... going away? Leaving him all alone? He stared at his friend in disbelief.

"… I… you... how long are you going to be gone at the very least?" Sasuke asked and tried to collect himself.

Naruto turned his head and was silent for a moment, before looking back at Sasuke.

"At least couple of months. Probably longer." Couple of months. Those words were echoing in Sasuke's head again and again. At the same time that really made him think. Had he really become this dependent on Naruto? Why in the hell? Besides, Naruto was coming back after it. He would be damned if he couldn't survive a couple of months alone. But why did even the thought of days without Naruto's smile made him feel so hollow?

"Oh… alright..." Sasuke's voice sounded so very empty. Or at least it did in the boys own ears.

"Sasuke... You'll be waiting for me here?" Naruto asked with smile on his lips. Naruto's warm and a bit worried smile made Sasuke smile too.

"Yeah. Of course I will. I'm not going anywhere", the black haired boy answered and felt somehow relieved now that he knew that Naruto would miss him too. The boy would not forget him. Wait, that thought was stupid to begin with, of course he wouldn't! It was already proved once for good.

"When are you leaving?" Sasuke asked with normal voice. Naruto scratched the back of his neck and chuckled at relaxed manner.

"Tomorrow morning. The sooner we leave, the sooner we'll be back", Naruto said and winked. Sasuke snorted.

"Remember to train hard on the trip of yours because I'm going to do a lot of practice and kick your ass for good when you return. I want you to be able to at least fight back", Sasuke answered and smirked.

"You wish!" Naruto shouted and laughed.

"But now I'm off to pack my stuff. Come to the gates tomorrow morning at eight sharp to send me off, will ya?" Naruto asked with grin.

"I will", Sasuke answered with a cheerful, but a bit sad voice.

ooooo

"Aaaaah! I'm so full!" Naruto sighed contently after eating his tenth bowl of ramen. Sasuke too had managed to empty his bowl while spacing out. He watched amused as Naruto leaned back on his stool, which unfortunately didn't have back, which caused Naruto to fall on the floor. The blond haired boy swore and stood up red-faced. Sasuke chuckled and paid for his own and Naruto's two bowls of ramen. Naruto too searched his pockets and paid for his share of food.

"Sasukee, what are ya gonna do the rest of the day?" Naruto asked when they left Ichiraku Ramen. The black haired boy gave it a thought. He had actually thought of fetching his camera and going to photograph. Something else than Naruto, that is. He felt like taking pictures of the nature for a chance.

"I was thinking of photographing", Sasuke said. Naruto laughed.

"Hey, I could come with ya and be your model!" he joked. As Sasuke thought about it, it wasn't such a bad idea, but still he just laughed with Naruto and let the matter drop. Or…

"Naruto, I think that's an excellent idea!" he stated, which made Naruto halt.

"Say again?" the blond boy asked.

"Come pose for me and such. I actually should practice photographing people more…" Sasuke answered. He kind of lied a bit. He actually photographed people more than nature or anything else. A certain person to be exact. But on the other hand, he had hardly posed for him, so it wasn't like it was any kind of useful practice for his skills when thinking professionally. Mostly he had just snapped the pictures haphazardly when he had the chance. And he had started to take his photography more and more seriously. It was his only hobby that counted as one, so he should actually take photos where someone was posing for him to perfect it. And Naruto was the perfect victim. Sasuke smirked to himself and his cheeks gained faint red colour. Then he remembered that Naruto was still there and probably staring at him. He put on a poker face.

"Well, what do you think?" Sasuke asked. Naruto thought about it a while before summoning a large grin on his face.

"Okay!"

* * *

**A/N:** The next chapter is the last one where you have to put up with flashback.


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